Shadow Of The Beast III WHDLoad Pack

README

 THIS PACKAGE COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR
 IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO USE, RESULTS AND
 PERFORMANCE OF THE PACKAGE IS ASSUMED BY YOU AND IF THE PACKAGE SHOULD PROVE
 TO BE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
 REPAIR OR OTHER REMEDIATION.
 UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, CAN THE AUTHOR BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE
 CAUSED IN ANY USUAL, SPECIAL, OR ACCIDENTAL WAY, ALSO IF THE OWNER OR A THIRD
 PARTY HAS BEEN POINTED AT SUCH POSSIBILITIES OF DAMAGE.

 This install applies to "Shadow of the Beast 3" © 1992 Psygnosis.

 Thanks to Chris Vella for original (NTSC) disk images, and Jan Krolzig 
 for original (PAL) disk images.

REQUIREMENTS:
- Slave requires WHDLoad V17+ and RawDIC
- Game requires 512Kb chip mem (+2.9Mb other memory for preload option)

Version 2.1 (27.02.2022) done by JOTD 
- fixed graphic glitches (joypad controls) and 3-button joystick support (issue #0005420)
- meta controls are always active if CD32 joypad is connected (CUSTOM3 is gone)

Version 2.0 (14.07.2021) done by JOTD 
- now uses 512k of chipmem only (issue #0005286)
- install script fixed (issue #0005291)
- BUTTONWAIT to be able to see old man HAM pic & mission pics (issue #0005288)
- meta controls are now optional (CD32 joypad)
- 3 button joystick support
- fixed/reduced graphic glitches (joypad controls) (issue #0005293)
- enabling button for jump wrongly skipped intro screens

 
Version 1.7 (08.06.2020) done by JOTD 
- CUSTOM2: blue/second button jumps instead of up (and ladders are properly handled) (issue #0005274)
- Trainer: infinite lives / in-game keys now enabled only with the trainer
- Skip introduction now mapped to CUSTOM4

Version 1.6 (august-2017) done by JOTD 
- changed memory map from 1MB chip to 512K chip & 512K fast
- added code to detect joystick (with 2 buttons)/joypad
- removed CUSTOM1: button 2 or joypad now always active (depending on which is connected)
- CUSTOM2 also skips Reflections & title screen

Version 1.5 (15-Jun-2016) done by StingRay 
- Intro patches completely redone, PAL version now fully supported
- Disk accesses removed
- Bplcon0 color bit fixes
- Byte writes to volume register fixed
- "Insert Game Disk 1" screen after intro disabled
- Intro can be skipped with CUSTOM2
- ByteKiller decruncher optimised and error check added


Version 1.4 (15-may-2016) done by JOTD 
- CUSTOM1=1 enables joypad controls
- Quit key works on 68000
- Source code included under the GPL license

Version 1.3 - done by Bored Seal
- PAL version works again (intro sequence patched for both versions)
- Decrunch routine moved in Fast RAM
- Small bugs removed

Version 1.2 - done by Galahad of Fairlight
- Intro sequence is now patched to work
- Reworked RomIcon and NewIcon and new GlowIcon (created by Codetapper!)

Version 1.0/1.1 - done by Mr.Larmer/Wanted Team
- Full load from HD
- Protection removed
- Quit option (default key is F9)


IN-GAME KEYS:

- ESC  : lose a life and restart
- HELP : restart
- F10  : return to menu
- SPACE: scroll through inventory
- cursor right: invincibility
- cursor left : normal

joypad controls:

- RED: normal fire
- BLUE (second button on a 2 button joystick):
   - weapon change (space) (if CUSTOM2=0)
   - jump (if CUSTOM2=1)
- GREEN (or third button): weapon change (if CUSTOM2=0)
- START: pause (P)
- GREEN+YELLOW: restart part (HELP)
- FORWARD+BACKWARDS: quit current game (F10)

and if in-game cheat keys are on:

- FORWARD: invincibility (cursor right)
- BACKWARDS: remove invincibility (cursor left)

Notes for 2.1 (JOTD):

Finally got rid of joypad related glitches. Thanks to other experiences in amiga game development, I figured
out that joypad read was done too soon and perturbated the original game screen sync, resulting in
some horrible glitches in some parts. Moving that joypad read later in the sequence fixed the bugs

Notes for 1.7 (JOTD):

Here is the new control option: the controls are soooo much better with a dedicated jump button.
Note that using jump when you're facing a ladder just makes the character cling to the ladder
In some other games adaptations (Gods, Ghost'n'Goblins), I could make the character jump instead,
but here the game logic is made so if you're jumping and pass in front of a ladder you cling to
it automatically so it's by design (exactly like in Cedric or Moktar/Titus). The only thing
that needed some thinking is the fact that you can go up a ladder with "up", and also you
can start climbing a ladder with "up", whereas "up" has no effect on jump.

A funny thing was: if I didn't distinguish between demo and real play mode, the character doesn't jump
in the demo (because it's receiving a "up" order) so it misses the trajectory, continues right and falls
and ... locks up the machine :)

The infinite lives trainer is different from the invincibility trainer because
you have to actually be careful of not being hit too much. But I didn't fix the
energy refill, so when you lose a life, you don't know the energy status. This status
isn't supposed to refill during game so it would require some more reverse engineering...

Notes for 1.5 (StingRay):
I had a look at the Beast 3 patch because of a report that the music runs
too slow, this was not a problem with the patch but just running the
NTSC version of the game on a PAL machine. You need to use WHDLoad's
"NTSC" option to make the music play at proper speed in that case.

However, there were quite a few real problems with the old patch, the most
serious one was the not fully supported intro for the PAL version, it would
just freeze after a while. This was caused by a buggy loader patch which only
worked by coincidence for the NTSC version! I have completely recoded the
loader for the intro data and now, 15 years after support for the PAL
version was added, the intro now finally works properly! I have also disabled
the "Insert Game Disk 1" screen that was shown after the intro and added
an option to skip the intro with CUSTOM2.

There also were Bplcon0 fixes needed and bytes write to the volume register
in the replayers which I have fixed as well. I have also optimised the
ByteKiller decruncher and added an error so in case the loaded data is
corrupt WHDLoad will quit with an appropriate error message.

I may update the patch further in the future but for now this should do.
StingRay, 15-Jun-2016


Regards are going out to : Bert, Codetapper, Chris Vella and everyone from
the pages of the Amiga's history that are still sticking around :)

         Bug report form, full WHDLoad package and other installs:
                          http://www.whdload.de/